THE SINS OF THE FATHERS
Composed by Oliver Nelson
Oliver Nelson eschews electronics altogether in this tale of a disgusting
old Welsh funerary custom: ensuring a dead man's arrival in heaven by
feasting in the presence of his corpse. Seesawing lower strings and muted
brass create a sense of mounting nausea for the segment's repulsive central
episode as Richard Thomas tucks into the heaped victuals (fresh baked bread,
thick slices of bacon, mounds of white cheese ... *urp* ...). Hints of
both the Gregorian "Dies irae" and Carl Orff's now-ubiquitous cantata
"Carmina Burana" can be pinpointed as Nelson's aptly medieval influences
here, building to a frenzy of horror and despair.
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